LESSON 14 THE SANDS O’DEE^[1] 迪河沙滩

Charles Kingsley (b.1819, d.1875) was born at Holne, Devonshire, England.He took his bachelor’s degree at Cambridge in 1842, and soon after entered the Church.His writings are quite voluminous, including sermons, lectures, novels, fairy tales, and poems, published in book form, besides numerous miscellaneous sermons and magazine articles.He was an earnest worker for bettering the condition of the working classes, and this object was the basis of most of his writings.As a lyric poet he has gained a high place.The “Saint’s Tragedy” and “Andromeda” are the most pretentious of his poems, and “Alton Locke” and “Hypatia” are his best known novels.

1.“O Mary, go and call the cattle home,

And call the cattle home,

And call the cattle home,

Across the sands o’ Dee!”

The western wind was wild and dank with foam,

And all alone went she.

2.The creeping tide came up along the sand,

And o’er and o’er the sand,

And round and round the sand,

As far as eye could see;

The blinding mist came down and hid the land—

And never home came she.

3.Oh, is it weed, or fi sh, or fl oating hair?—

A tress o’ golden hair,

O’ drowned maiden’s hair,

Above the nets at sea.

Was never salmon yet that shone so fair

Among the stakes on Dee.

4.They rowed her in across the rolling foam,

The cruel, crawling foam,

The cruel, hungry foam,

To her grave beside the sea;

But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home,

Across the sands O’ Dee.

【中文阅读】

查尔斯·金斯利（1819—1875）出生于英国德文郡霍恩镇。1842年，他在剑桥大学获学士学位，不久进入教会。他涉猎广泛，著述丰富，除了各种布道文和杂志文章以外，还包括书籍形式的布道、演讲、小说、童话以及诗歌。他为提高工人阶级的劳动条件而奔走疾呼，并为此写出他的大部分作品。作为一名抒情诗人，查尔斯享有崇高的声誉。在他的作品中，诗歌《圣徒的悲剧》和《仙女座》不愧为他倾心创作的诗歌，而小说《奥尔顿·洛克》和《希帕蒂亚》是他最为著名的小说。

1.“哦，玛丽，去把牛儿唤回家，

穿过迪河沙滩，

把牛儿唤回家来，

把牛儿唤回家来！”

西风呼啸狂野，浪花翻卷，

她独自一人离开家。

2.放眼望去，只能模糊看见：

浪潮蠕动着，漫过沙滩，

一次次拍打着，

一次次席卷着。

大雾开始弥漫，遮蔽了沙滩——

她再也没有回过家。

3.天哪，渔网上缠绕着的

是海草，是鱼儿，还是头发？——

那是一绺金黄色的头发，

一个溺死的少女的头发。

在这条长长的迪河里

还从没有一条鲑鱼鳞上能闪烁着这么漂亮的光芒。

4.在翻卷的浪花中，他们划着船带她回来，

那残忍的，嗜血的海浪，

那残忍的，饥渴的海浪。

她的墓碑立在海边。

直到今天，渔民们仍能听见，

她穿过迪河沙滩，唤她的牛儿回家。

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【注释】

[1] T he Sands O’ Dee.The Dee is a river of Scotland, noted for its salmon f siheries.O’ is a contraction for of, commonly used by the Scotch.